LONDON, ONT. -- Twenty-five-year-old grocery store employee Ryan Gosso is the first person to receive a shot at the newest mass vaccination site in London.

The site, at the Earl Nichols Recreation Centre on Homeview Road in south London, comes with a new design to minimize its footprint.

“We also learned from our previous locations that registration can be a bottleneck and cause delays in the process,” says Middlesex-London Health Unit Interim CEO Emily Williams.

To improve on the process, Williams says they consulted with the Southwest Public Health Unit on what was working there.

“We went and visited their site in St. Thomas and we applied those learnings to shift the operating model here, and so what you will see inside is a central hub model where our vaccinators will revolve around the client.”

Now the nurses will move around with carts and administer vaccines to awaiting patients, who will then remain in their pod for 15 minutes to determine if any side effects present itself.

This different approach will eventually mean between 1,500 and 2,000 vaccines can be delivered daily at this site.

“And it will ultimately increase our ability to move more clients through the vaccine centre, which is ultimately everyone’s goal” says Williams.

The site will officially begin giving shots on May 25, and according to Ward 12 Councillor Elizabeth Peloza, this is especially important for this area of the city.

“A site they can walk to, they can bike to, it’s on LTC routes 10 and 93, it’s a site they are familiar with. It’s a gathering space, and when you’re safe and familiar with a space you are more likely to come out and get vaccinated.”

For London Mayor Ed Holder the site is another sign that the pandemic is nearly over.

“Frankly at one point I wasn’t sure there was a tunnel to see the light at the end of, now we can see that light”

Appointments are already being booked for the Nichols site. All adults 18 and over are currently eligible while appointments for youth 12 and older can be made starting May 23. Appointments can be booked here.